Barnes v. Winn
Barnes v. Winn
Opinion of the Court
On motion for rehearing.
The judgment of the circuit court herein was affirmed because of appellant’s failure to file in this court a transcript. of the record from the circuit court fifteen days before the March term, 1888, to which term the cause was returnable. Appellant asks to have that judgment set aside ; and insists, with much pertinacity, that he is not in fault.
The facts, substantially, are, that the judgment of the Jackson circuit court was rendered herein in November, 1887, and the appeal was perfected on the twenty-fourth day of December, 1887 ; and the case was ready for the transcript to be made out at once.
The appellant had from the twenty-fourth day of December, 1887, to the twentieth day of February, 1888, in which to file his transcript in this court, a period of nearly two months. It devolves upon him to make a reasonable showing to this court for this delay. The utmost that can be said in his favor is, that his attorney seems to have relied upon what he regarded as the duty of the clerk to make out the transcript without any special order from him, and forward the same here ; that he was of the impression that he did direct the clerk to make out the transcript in time for the March term of this court. On the other hand, the affidavits of the
It was long since held by the Supreme Court that it is the duty of the appellant to see that his transcript is made out and filed in the appellate court. He cannot excuse himself by depending upon the clerk to perform this duty. Caldwell v. Hawkins, 46 Mo. 263; Reading v. Chapman, 46 Mo. 218. This has been the uniform holding of this court. McCaffery v. Railroad, ante, p. 340. At all events the appellant in order to have shown proper diligence should have evinced a disposition to prosecute his appeal without delay, by calling on the clerk and requesting him to make out the transcript. Instead of this, no such order was left with the clerk until about the thirtieth day of April, 1888, over four months after the appeal was taken. We fail to discover from the showing made on this motion any reason why the appellant could not have had his transcript here by the twentieth day of January, the day on which this court made its order assigning cases for hearing on the March docket. By reason of his neglect he delays the hearing of the case for one term. What we have said respecting this matter in McCaffery v. Railroad, supra, is applicable to this case.
It is further urged against the action of the court in affirming the judgment, that the respondent did not present to this court a full and complete transcript of the record as required by section 3717, Revised Statutes, as amended by the act of 1885. Laws Mo. 1885, p. 216
The Supreme Court continues as heretofore, as does the St. Louis Court of Appeals, to affirm judgments on the clerk’s certificate under the act of 1883. Until the Supreme Court shall hold that the act of 1885 had the effect to repeal the act of 1883, we shall regard it as in force, and applicable to the matter of affirming judgments in this court. If deemed important, we think we could present many reasons, and authorities, for the position that the effect of the act of 1885 was not to repeal by implication the act of 1883.
The motion is denied.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.